"Libra: New encounters are on the horizon. It’s good timing because you’re currently buoyed by a wonderful energy." The horoscope in the Journal de Bectoile, a newspaper in a small village in the French countryside, is perfectly in sync with the intrepid Lucie who’s the very young protagonist of The Songbirds’ Secret, which is the charming first feature film by Antoine Lanciaux (mostly known as the co-screenwriter of Raining Cats and Frogs and an animator on A Cat in Paris [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film]). The movie was unveiled in an Event Screening at the 44th Annecy Animated Film Festival.

"It’s not a good idea to go rooting around in there. "When 9-year-old Lucie’s mother, Caro, dismisses her idea to climb over a locked gate on a small deserted street in the middle of the countryside, which a moped accident has randomly led them to, the little girl’s curiosity is piqued. But she doesn’t push it, as she knows the windmill at the end of the path beyond the gate holds bad memories for Caro, who was forced to leave it with her own mother, on account of a fire, when she was seven years old ("your grandmother didn’t want to hear about Bectoile ever again"). All Lucie really know is that her mother is terrified of fire, but over the course of the summer she’ll end up learning a lot more…

In the meantime, Caro and her colleague Pierrot launch themselves into their own kind of digging, a dig of an archaeological nature this time round, in search of a crypt in the ruins of a local castle which also hides a legend (a secret? Treasure?). Lucie, for her part, explores the surrounding area with the dog, Mandrin, and soon with a kind 13-year-old from the local neighbourhood called Yann. Between a mysterious key found in a nest, an old man living like a hermit in the thick of the woods (referred to as a wizard by local tongues), a small badger who needs saving, two bluetits who behave strangely like guides, dreams of historical relevance, a quasi-journalistic investigation, intuitions and a storm, hidden truths soon begin to emerge…

Wholly made with cut paper, The Songbirds’ Secret proves to be a work of great sensitivity, full of the softness of childhood and typical experiences of holidays in the countryside (woodland and farmland creatures, tractors, old mopeds, casual adventures, etc.). Imbuing the film with a spirit which seems half-way between The Famous Five and Scooby-Doo and which is highly accessible to younger audiences, the director (who wrote the screenplay with Pierre-Luc Granjon) spins a delicate yarn touching upon family ties (and wounds) which have been undone by the vagaries of life, while slowly and suggestively drawing the most out of the story’s natural setting. It results in a luminous and visually beautiful film which is both humble and technically subtle (special mention should be made of Sophie Roze and Samuel Ribeyron’s captivating graphics), a movie which will win over the youngest viewers, stir up good summer memories for older audiences and which skilfully follows in the realistic-poetic footsteps of French animation by masters such as Michel Ocelot and Jean-François Laguionie.

The Songbirds’ Secret was produced by French firms Folimage and Les Armateurs, in co-production with Lunanime (Belgium) and French outfits Will Production, JPL Films, Dragons Films, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, Pictanovo and TNZPV Productions. France Tv distribution are overseeing world sales.